International

Gold Cup hero Coneygree set to reappear at Cheltenham on Saturday

The 2015 Gold Cup winner Coneygree is set to return to the scene of his greatest triumph as he makes a belated reappearance on Saturday.

The 11-year-old looked to have a huge future when becoming the first novice to land the Gold Cup for 41 years, blazing a trail and jumping his rivals into the ground.

He has been beset by training problems, which have restricted him to just five outings in the next three seasons, and has not run since he was pulled up in the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury last December.

But Coneygree is now poised to tackle the 3m3f BetVictor.com Handicap Chase, on his first visit to Cheltenham since his Gold Cup win.

"We wanted to go to Down Royal but the ground was not right and it was the same at Ascot," trainer Mark Bradstock said on Monday.

"But we've had a nice drop of rain and I hope that Cheltenham will be fine.

"We've had Sean Bowen in schooling him, because Nico de Boinville was not available, and he jumped eight fences and was absolutely brilliant."

Coneygree has missed the last three Cheltenham Gold Cups but he was a close third behind Sizing John in the Punchestown version last year.